ePlane, Noida International Airport tie up to build eVTOL ecosystem

The partnership will cover vertiports, charging stations, operating procedures and regulatory coordination for ePlane's e200X electric air taxi and emergency services

Ubifly Technologies, which operates as The ePlane Company, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Noida International Airport to develop the infrastructure, regulatory framework and operating ecosystem needed for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) services.

 

The agreement will establish a framework to jointly develop standard operating procedures (SOPs), Vertiport Management Systems and operational processes required to deploy ePlane’s flagship e200X aircraft.

 

The partnership is aimed at enabling e200X-powered airport-to-airport transit, intra-city travel and emergency air ambulance services across the region.

 

“Deploying electric air taxis requires more than just building the aircraft; it demands the parallel development of ground infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and operational procedures,” said Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, founder and director of Ubifly Technologies, or The ePlane Company.

  

Under the partnership, Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd (YIAPL), the concessionaire for Noida International Airport, will allocate space within the airport premises for proof-of-concept trials, vertiports and charging stations.

 

The airport will also align its operating procedures to accommodate eVTOL services.

 

ePlane, meanwhile, will focus on securing the necessary clearances from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), while carrying out prototyping and flight testing of the e200X aircraft.

 

The two companies will also jointly engage with regulators, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and state governments to develop safety frameworks, Vertiport Management Systems and AI-assisted fleet scheduling integrated with smart-city systems.

 

The infrastructure partnership follows ePlane’s recent public unveiling of the full-scale e200X PT-01 prototype.

 

Ground testing is currently under way, and the MoU is aimed at ensuring that ground operations and airspace integration progress in parallel with aircraft development.

 

“This MoU with Noida International Airport allows us to systematically validate our operational models using drone trials before transitioning to piloted e200X flights. It is a pragmatic, step-by-step approach to ensuring that when our aircraft are certified, the airport ecosystem is fully equipped to deliver on our core promise: bypassing urban gridlock and compressing hours of road travel into minutes of safe, emission-free transit for both passengers and critical medical care,” Chakravarthy said.

 

Daniel Bircher, chairman, Noida International Airport, said integrating advanced air mobility into the airport’s framework was part of its longer-term vision for multi-modal connectivity.

 

“Noida International Airport’s long-term vision is closely linked with bringing innovative, future-ready infrastructure to the region. Integrating Advanced Air Mobility into our airport framework is an important part of our commitment to seamless, multi-modal connectivity. We are pleased to collaborate with The ePlane Company on developing the ground infrastructure and operational SOPs required to deliver safe, zero-emission air transit and vital emergency services to Delhi-NCR,” Bircher said.

 

Founded in 2019 and incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras Incubation Cell, The ePlane Company is developing electric aircraft for the advanced air mobility market.

 

The company said it was the first private aerospace entity in India to receive a formal Design Organisation Approval from the DGCA for electric aircraft, while its e200X is the first eVTOL accepted into the regulator’s type-certification pipeline.